Not sure yet what to say about this. Certainly not the same problems as some others but needs to be mentioned. Shay2be advertised several new Stradivarius blades. He shipped the blades but when buyers received them there was glue residue on them. I suggested to him sending back a partial refund to buyers since a blade with glue residue is not exactly new. He seems to not think he should make any restitution to buyers based on his pm to buyers. He has not responded to my pm. Ok. But I would say that calling something that is "like new" to be "actually new" is not entirely honest. Obviously that is not the same thing is some of the scams described earlier on this thread. Still, it needs to be mentioned.

Edit added. Several other members have communicated with me that they have had dealings with Shay2be in which he revealed himself less than honest. So far, nobody has lost money on anything. But enough incidents have taken place that I cannot recommend that anybody buy from him.

The member known as chrisger is a scammer. His real name is Christoph Heid, and he lives and plays in Lauf a.d. Pegnitz near Nürnberg in Germany. He accepts money for blades and then sometimes does not ship them and does not respond to emails. Blades he sells may have reduced head size or other modifications. The blades he offers are often those of another German fellow named Robert B. who is not active on the internet.

He committed at least three cases of this kind of fraud on German table tennis forums where he used the name "chrismfr". See here:

Do not deal with Pongster94, maybe named Chris (Lin) Lee from Maryland/DC area (Glen Burnie, MD). Probable scammer. Offered blade in trade that he had already sold to someone else. Several failed and extremely suspicious transactions. Unreliable user of PayPal at the very least.

what's wrong with this kinda ppl these days? They lost their moral compass or what or may be they never have any. They can't tell the differences btwn Right & Wrong? May be it's their upbringing which contributed to their unethical & dishonest behaviors & conducts?

He's definitely a scammer. No doubt. He had a post looking for used Tenergies. I contacted him with pics of some of my rubbers for sale. He said multiple times during our communication that he would take them, but just wouldn't pay whatsoever. I was so naive to agree to keep the rubbers for him until 12/30 (which would be 5 days after he said he would take the rubbers), but I don't think he'll ever get back to me again. Please avoid him.

Pongster94 made a deal with KLHfans to trade a ZJK-T5000 for a Korbel with used rubber and 45 USD. After receiving the Korbel and the money, he did not like the condition of the blade or rubber. KLH has not received the ZJK, which was never shipped. KLH offered to reverse the deal since Pongster was unhappy. While this was going on, Pongster offered the ZJK to multiple people in trades. That bothers me a lot (because of the timing, since at that time he already had received money and the Korbel). Meanwhile he offers strange stories about his PayPal being frozen, so he can send or receive money but not add money to his paypal account. His explanations about his PayPal seem highly implausible to me, and in any case, if your PayPal is messed up, you have no business trying to make deals here. As of now, KLH has not had his Korbel returned, or had his 45 bucks refunded, or alternatvely received the ZJK. On at least one other buy/sell forum (not related to TT) we have learned that people don't want to deal with Pongster and give him a low rating as a seller/buyer. This cannot be ignored. Pongster94 now claims he has shipped a blade to KLH (I don't know if it is the Korbel or the ZJK) and another to fatt (a different transaction). We will see. We have been applying pressure to get him to do that. Issues with PayPal shoul not affect ones ability to go to the post office.

I will keep members informed. If the bades actuaaly are received bt fatt and KLH, I will post that here. Pongster might want to avoid arrogant posting in the meantime, as he brought this onto himself.

I am willing to post his name, address, home phone, email, cell phone, and facebook page if this is not resolved, in a way that will appear on Google searches.

Pongster94 has now mailed blades to KLH and fatt. So for now this is resolved. Please let me know if you have had a questionable transaction with him. If you want to see the complete thread, it is here:

Our latest scammer is BACARDI, who actually has another name here POKJESS. If people can see that he has other identities here, please let me know. He has been banned (both names). He has sold blades that very clearly are not in the condition that he claims (using both names, I have now learned). He has been a bit shady from the start, didn't want to post pictures, instead I allowed him to link to his Facebook page. That kind of thing comes up from time to time (blades not being in the condition claimed). Usually those things are resolved because most people here are honest. If someone is unhappy, usually they just return the blade for a refund or some other mutually agreed arrangement. From my perspective, I can sometimes be a referee, and usually there is no real problem -- unless lots of people have the same complaint, which has become the case for this guy. By the way, that is one reason why I want people to post pictures or links to pictures, it can crowd source fake identification and it reduces misunderstandings (does not eliminate them).

The biggest problem, though, is that when his deals go badly and people complain, BACARDI sends endless deranged threatening messages, usually in French (he is Belgian) since his English language skills are low. "I know the character of people in your country, I am going to come find you and teach you some respect". Stuff like that. He also uses his wife's email and name on occasion.

Don't deal with him, he is nuts. Son of wombats nuts. Or as they say here in Texas, a couple of sandwiches shy of a picnic. Or as they say in Norway "helt texas", their way of saying crazy (because it is true that Texans are collectively crazy and well armed, and it is not a complement, and by the way I live in Texas).

His facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/bobladetrade/

I provide that as a service to our members who may buy from a variety of places, and who might want to avoid this one.

One last thing is that banned members often re-infest the site under a new name. I recommend being cautious dealing with any member with a Belgian IP address who tends to post his for sale threads in French, especially for vintage blades, Old Stigas, Butterfly, etc.

Belgian members who are very well respected, like Kakapo, always post in English. BACARDI/POKJESS generally reverts to French and when he writes in English it looks like he has used bad translation software.

Andrei2412 has been banned for preying on potentially gullible buyers. The last straw was his trying to sell a silver tag Viscaria for 700 UK pounds.

If you send him money he sends you a blade and he sends money for blades he wants to buy, that is not the issue. In that way he is different from other scammers. In fact it is not quite fair to call him a scammer per se. Therefore, although I know his real name I will not reveal it. He is not in the same category as some of the other people on this thread.

The issue is the extreme inflated prices based on completely unsubstantiated (and extremely unlikely) claims about what he sells. I feel an obligation to protect members from that, especially new ones who may be taken in. I just can't let him do that here. This decision is final. If you want to pay those kinds of insane prices you can find him on facebook or ebay. But it's not going to happen here.

I have banned the member Jjf26220, who may be a person named Joe Finch from Hemet, CA. I am concerned by his behavior in selling an old Butterfly blade here. If it is resolved I can reinstate him. He is currently selling stuff on ebay where he goes by Halse Jaso (unlikely to be a real name). I would use the highest level of caution in dealing with him. Our member was smart and did not use Paypal friends and family option, and so is protected and will get his money back. A good lesson for everyone.

So, he never did mail the blade. Magic_M got his money back through Paypal. So, anybody in the world, Joseph Finch of Hemet California is an internet scammer and not to be trusted. Don't buy table tennis equipment, records, CDs, or guitars from this guy.

By the way, there is a Joe Finch in the UK who is a potter. No the same guy.

Just want to reiterate the point about pongster94. Wish I had the seen this before agreeing to a deal.

DON'T DEAL WITH THIS GUY

He posted tenergy fx for sale back in January. Was very responsive and friendly until I sent the payment (via money order). It almost 6 months later, and no tenergy and no reimbursement! After 3 months of waiting he claimed he sent it out and usps lost the package, while providing no proof. He's been mostly MIA since. To say that I am pissed off is an understatement. He keeps apologizing, and promising, without delivering. Regardless of his intentions he has taken money, multiple times, without delivering. I do have his phone number and home address.

Here is something i would suggest to people contemplating buying something here. Be sure to look to see if there is actual feedback here on that person, meaning that someone here has bought from them and has then reported that they received the blade in the condition reported. Note that we have a special feedback section for that! Use it.

Don't just rely on appearances, such as it SEEMS like they have sold a lot of blades based on the For Sale threads that have been closed!! (Bear in mind that I have no way of verifying that a blade transaction actually occurred just because somebody marks a blade thread as "Sold").

Feedback actually comes from a buyer. The more feedback there is the better. Some people have been selling blades here for many years. They are absolutely reliable. I would estimate that at least 2/3 of the sales threads have been started by trustworthy people that fall into that category.

Therefore, if someone is a relatively new member and you have had a successful transaction with them, you would be doing them a big favor to start a new feedback thread for them, or posting in one they started.

If you are really worried about whether you should proceed with someone, you can contact me and I may be able to provide some input on a seller, since many are well known to me. I will probably regret making that decision since it will fill up my inbox. But for now, I will try to do that. Just do me a favor and try to search the feedback section before contacting me.

I am tentatively adding JoeWilmar to the list. He has not responded to my request for information about a transaction. He received payment for a blade and has not shipped it. He has blocked email communication with the buyer. He has not responded to my PMs asking for information. Until this is cleared up I think people should not buy from him or send him a blade in trade. There may be an explanation, but as yet I don't have it. I am trying to contact him through some other people. I will let people know what I find out.

Edit added: Another member reminded me that JolWilmar had previously created multiple identities on the forum.

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